Chapter 4: The Gaze of the Silver Crowned Dragon

Not long after Haina left, James Moriarty returned home carrying a heavy suitcase.

"Are the people from the Supervisory Bureau leaving now?"

Old James asked as soon as he walked in.

He apparently met Haena at the gate of the manor and exchanged pleasantries.

James was a polite, elderly gentleman with noticeable wrinkles on his face. His eyes were dark gray, deep-set, and his hair was thin and gray. His skin, however, was well-maintained. His cheeks were thin, with high cheekbones. Although he looked thin in his coat, it was immediately clear that he was not frail when he took it off.

He always spoke in a soft, drawn-out, soft, and elf-like voice. It was obvious that he had been well-educated and had a good temper.

He put the suitcase down at the door, took off his double-breasted trench coat and hat, and handed them to the valet standing at the door: "Their people didn't question Aiwass for several hours... Well, thank you, Wade. Remember to send this box to Aiwass's room later."

"Yes, sir. I've made a note of that." His valet replied in a low voice as he took the things and retreated.

"Ms. Haena is late."

The old elf didn't choose to hide the situation for her, but expressed his dissatisfaction directly: "She is always like this, thinking about her hat and forgetting her tie, so rash. If she continues like this, it's only a matter of time before she misses something important and gets a good scolding from her boss."

"It's a matter of time, so let's wait until it happens. If she makes a mistake because of her bad habits, let her mistakes teach her a lesson."

The old man just smiled, narrowed his eyes, and said gently, "Don't scold her now for the mistakes she might make in the future, Oswald. You are only her instructor, not her superior."

He was quite friendly and approachable towards his elf butler, Oswald.

This is normal because more than 60 years ago, when he was about the same age as Edwards is today, he was also raised by Oswald.

Besides the old butler, the house employed sixteen other live-in servants—a housekeeper, two maids, two valets, two maids, five footmen, a cook, two kitchen helpers, and a coachman. Aiwass's eldest brother rarely came home, so besides him and Yulia, the old man was the only one in the house.

James was usually low-key and calm, and was very polite even to the servants. Although he rarely smiled, he never got angry or angry with his servants.

——Or to be more precise, no one has ever seen him lose his temper or anger in the past few decades. Even when facing the most rude guests, the old man always maintains his composure.

Yes, old man.

Although James is nominally Evans' adoptive father, he is actually old enough to be Evans' grandfather.

This made sense... When he adopted Aiwass, Aiwass was only six years old. And now Aiwass is already eighteen years old.

Edward Moriarty, the eldest brother of Aiwass and Yulia, was adopted by James when he was eight years old. He is now thirty-five years old.

"……dad."

Yulia, who was standing next to Aiwass, walked over and greeted him softly.

She was like a well-behaved cat, she leaned her head over and was touched lovingly by the old man.

"How are you today, Yulia?"

He asked seriously, "Did you take your medicine properly?"

"I've already eaten."

Yulia said softly, her voice giving people a dreamy and transparent feeling.

"Go to bed early and don't stay up too late reading. You will never finish learning."

The old man warned carefully: "Don't go to bed later than nine o'clock at night. You are not in good health. Do you hear me, Yulia?"

Seeing that Yulia's eyes began to drift to the side as he was talking, he raised his voice a little and emphasized: "Yulia?"

"Yeah, I know."

Yulia responded vaguely.

The old man sighed helplessly and emphasized again: “Don’t stay up late, you silly girl.

"You don't go out, so there's no difference between day and night. Why not go to bed early and read some books during the day? That's better for your eyes."

As he spoke, Yulia fell silent again.

Old James had no choice but to emphasize, "I'm old now and can't stay up late. I have to go to bed at 10 p.m., so I can't answer any questions you have. But if you read during the day, you can always come to me if you don't understand something. I don't have classes tomorrow, and I'll be staying home for several days this time. You can ask me anything you don't understand, okay?"

"……good."

This time, Yulia didn't pretend to be deaf. She raised her head seriously, her ruby-like eyes gazing at the old man. "I've been reading a book on alchemy lately... a treatise on the Path of Balance. Does Dad know anything about this?"

"Dad knows all the books in the house."

The old man said calmly: "Dad knows a little about the nine great ways."

His tone was calm, but there was a sense of confidence coming from him.

"Then I will go to bed early today."

The girl stretched out two fingers to the sky beside her ears and said seriously: "I swear, I will keep my word——"

"Don't."

The old man simply reached out his hand, gently bent the girl's fingers, and retracted his fist.

"Don't do that."

James said seriously, "This is the [Simple Oath], a spiritual gesture. If you break the oath, you will be punished."

“…I just wanted to try.”

Yulia whispered, "I just read this in a book today... Was my gesture correct?"

"Correct. So don't do it again next time."

The old man sighed tiredly: "Let's go eat quickly, I have something to say to Aiwass."

Yulia responded and followed Oswald to the dining room. There were only two people left in the living room.

James fell silent again and sat opposite Aiwass.

The old man picked up the cup of tea that Supervisor Haina had not touched, poured it out, and then poured himself a cup of hot tea.

Looking at the silent Aiwass, he clutched the teacup and asked softly, "How do you feel...how is the current condition? Is it still stable?"

The one he was talking about was the shadow demon that Aiwass had contracted.

This kind of thing can't be hidden from the adoptive father.

Since Aiwass woke up lying at home, it was most likely Butler Oswald who brought him back in his coma. James must have examined him and performed a simple universal seal. At least he didn't let the Shadow Demon take over Aiwass' body while he was unconscious.

It can be said to be very thoughtful.

In the "future" picture, the crazy, gloomy, hunched James Moriarty and the kind old man in front of him who cares about him seem to be not the same person at all!

All he could remember were images of James loving him.

When Aiwas was in his early teens, he once inadvertently said that he missed the special fried cod fillets that Aunt Misu would make for them during the holidays when they were in the orphanage.

As a result, the next day, Aunt Misu was hired as a kitchen helper at her home for a while, paid a high salary. She not only taught the family's cooks how to make their special fried cod fillet, but also all the other "common dishes" she knew. When she was asked to leave, she was given an additional reward.

Aiwass was so scared at the time that he didn't dare to say he wanted to eat or anything for at least half a year, for fear that he would be bought the food right after he said it.

Even though little Aiwass hadn't yet recalled his past life, he had a clear understanding of himself - he was not James Moriarty's biological son after all. He didn't deserve to enjoy such preferential treatment.

It was because Aiwass himself was more sensible that he didn't become a playboy under such pampering.

So now, when Aiwas looked at his adoptive father, he always felt complicated. He also had a sense of luck.

...Is it possible that the adoptive father wasn't the mastermind behind the events at the start of the story? Or perhaps he fell into evil only when the Kingdom of Avalon was falling apart?

It's not impossible.

In the original story, when the Kingdom of Avalon fell apart, Aiwass fled with the protagonist to the Theocracy. From that moment on, he and his adoptive father were separated. It was three years later that they met again.

maybe……

What happened in these three years?

...But that doesn't explain why Aiwass infiltrated the "player" as a spy.

"—Aiwass?"

Seeing Aiwass lost in thought again, the old man called out softly again, "If that doesn't work, I'll go find the bishop to help you exorcise the demon that's possessed you, okay?"

"...Ah, I'm fine, father. The demonic knowledge I obtained from that group of people just happened to contain the means to seal the Shadow Demon."

Aiwass looked up and said with a comforting smile: "I was just thinking about other things."

"Then I believe you."

The adoptive father nodded slowly. "I've brought you the materials you asked for yesterday. The rope from the gallows is easy to find... but the nails used to impale victims are much harder to find. The Queen abolished the practice after she ascended the throne. I found it in a museum."

"I don't know if you'll need them later, but I brought all four of them back. The collection records are also very clean, so you don't have to worry about anything. If you need anything else, just tell me... Don't trust outsiders so easily."

...Found it so quickly?

Aiwass couldn't believe it.

He didn't expect that his adoptive father would actually find them just one day later.

Is this the power that the Moriarty family could exert while the Kingdom of Avalon still existed?

"Great! With them, I can seal the Shadow Demon more stably."

Aiwass' heart warmed, and he said with gratitude from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you, father!"

The two ritual materials he requested weren't actually used to seal the Shadow Demon. Using a wheelchair was the simplest and most reliable method of sealing it, and this was the optimal solution tested by demonologists from the Star Antimony Kingdom four years later.

"Then I won't have dinner today!"

He felt a little itchy inside and looked a little impatient. Aiwass was such a fan of the occult to begin with, so it was not at all strange for him to do this now.

"Let me do it."

Seeing that Evans was about to push the wheelchair away by himself, old James hurriedly took two steps forward, held the back of the wheelchair, and pushed Evans to his room.

On the way, the old man said softly: "Evans, although you may be unhappy about what I say... Dad still has to say something.

"During the ceremony, you must not use humans or human corpses as materials or sacrifices. Other than that, Dad will find a way to find you any materials you want... Can you promise Dad?"

Hearing this, Aiwas, who was sitting in a wheelchair, opened his eyes slightly in surprise.

It wasn't because I was surprised that my adoptive father, the mastermind behind all this, actually made such a seemingly moral request...

But it was because he knew that what the old man said was absolutely right.

It wasn't until the advent of the "Fallen Angels" and the upper limit of the demonologist's level was raised that the demonologists of the old era realized that their approach was completely wrong.

They all thought that the focus of Demonologist was on the "demon", but they didn't realize that the focus was on the "scholar".

Humans cannot use humans as ritual materials, nor can spirits use spirits. If the subject is a transformed spirit, then the bones of any animal cannot be used as materials. This is a taboo of "Heavenly Sin."

Any Demonologist who had used sacrifices of their own kind, thus incurring the divine punishment of sin, could not advance from this profession to the level of "Sinner." Those Demonologists at the fifth level could only transform themselves into various demons. This wasn't even considered advancement; it was merely exchanging their professional level for a more powerful racial template than humans.

There is no doubt that such upper limit and ability will be much weaker than the "Scholar of Great Sin" as a heroic profession.

Players cannot use their own kind as ritual materials from the very beginning, so they cannot meet the conditions for incorrect advancement.

Now, James has spoken the secret so clearly.

Is it a coincidence, or...

Aiwas' heart moved, and he just nodded seriously.

He extended two fingers of his right hand, held them to his ears, and uttered the oath word by word: "I swear that I will not use the lives and corpses of my own people as materials and sacrifices for my rituals."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly saw a vision—

In the dark night, on top of the snow-capped mountains.

Wearing a silver crown on its head, a dazzling dragon whose entire body looked like crystal, diamond and silver was gazing at him quietly.

The illusion lasted only a brief moment, less than half a second, but when Aiwass woke up, he was covered in cold sweat.

You feel the gaze of authority.

[You have obtained the characteristic: Authority-Silver Scale]

[Authority - Silver Scale: With this mark as a seal, the Silver Crown Dragon is watching you. You have made a vow that cannot be broken. When you attack anyone who breaks the vow, you gain +1 advantage (divinity).]

"...I don't know whether it's your good fortune or misfortune, but just a 'simple oath' caught His attention. It must be a coincidence..."

The old man behind Aiwass seemed to sense something and paused.

He was silent for a long moment before he continued to slowly push the wheelchair and said softly, "But no matter what, the God of Authority has heard your oath, and you cannot break it."

"certainly……"

Aiwass closed his eyes wearily, feeling his heart beating so hard it felt like it was stopping. "I will never embark on that path of depravity from which there is no turning back."

(End of this chapter)